It turns out my dispatcher had added up the dimensions of my load but neglected to add up the weight. When he finally got around to it it turned out it was far too heavy. Back to square one. He put together a load that is going to Hanibal, MO, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City. Not exactly what I had expected but is ok. I'm back at the hotel for tonight and will leave out tomorrow. With this bad cold that's fine with me. I went over to Appleby's for dinner and then over to the hotel next d...

I got up this morning at the hotel. I sucked down some much needed coffee, showered, shaved for the first time in three days, and dressed for work. I was expecting my load to be ready for me to secure it and start making my way toward OK. When I reached the yard I didn't see any loaded trailer that looked like my load so I went into the office to see what was up. It seems that while he had been adding up the dimensions of the pieces to be sure they would all fit on the trailer he forgot to...

When on the road I leave my good quality clothing safely at home. Trucking, especially the specialized hauling I do, can be a dirty job. On the days when I am picking up and/or delivering loads, handling chains and straps and all else that entails, I wear old jeans and cheap shirts. On the travel days and off days I prefer to dress a bit more presentably. That's where thrift shops come in. My on the road dress clothing all comes from thrift shops. They cost me so little that I really don't...

As I suspected, the tiredness I had been feeling was the early stages of some damn bug I've picked up some place. After doing a short run down to O'Hare airport yesterday I returned and went to bed. I managed to sleep for 14 hours but it didn't help, I still feel like crap. I'm going to be running a load down to TX with a stop off at an Air Force Base in OK, which is ok with me. The boss initially asked if I could make the OK stop Friday but I told him I'm really not feeling well and maybe...

Tonight was a typical night at the yard. After doing the things that had to be done I went down to the bar at the bottom of the hill for a bite to eat and a few brews. Naturally a few of our drivers and the guys from the office also wandered in. Some folks seem to bond, some folks don't. I guess I'm one of the "don't". All of the folks I work with know my name and are all friendly, but we aren't close. Some of them do seem to be close and know a lot about each other's personal lives. I am...

I made my delivery in Minneapolis yesterday. It was raining and cold and took far too long in my opinion. Standing in a cold rain does seem to make everything take too long. Once the machine was unloaded they loaded up the forklift I was to pick up there and I started making my way back across the state to the yard. It wasn't really a hard day at all but for some reason by the time I reached the yard I was exhausted although I'm not sure why. I was looking forward to some rest. The boss...

When I returned to the truck after dinner I caught a thief stealing my crackers. I keep a box of crackers on a shelf where they're both handy and out of the way. There was Socrates up on the shelf happily munching on a pack of saltines he had ripped open. Caught red pawed. I removed him from the shelf, scolded him while trying not to laugh, and cleaned up the cracker crumbs he had scattered both on the shelf and my bed. I guess I'm going to have to lock up the crackers now.

It's chilly here. The wind has a definate nip to it. This feels more like late October than the middle of September. I am not yet ready for the cold weather to begin. I want my warm weather back dang it. They're talking snow out West already. Come on! Let's kind of ease into this Winter thing shall we? A few weeks of nice comfortable days and cool evenings with a gradual cool down and slide into Winter. What's the rush? Even wearing a long sleeve shirt and fedora I was feeling pretty ch...

Today was a pretty laid back day for me as is appropriate for a Sunday I suppose. I slept in until 7:00 at which time Socrates lost patience and insisted that I get up. I bobtailed down to the truckstop for some much needed coffee and a nice hot breakfast. While enjoying my morning repast I got my paperwork all caught up on the laptop so that I could print it all out and drop it in the mailbox back at the yard upon my return. Getting paid can get to be somewhat important from time to time,...

After putting off my first stop this morning I made my way to the yard so our shop could perform the annual DOT inspection on my truck. I made it to the yard about 11:00am. The shop closes at noon on Saturday. After getting the truck serviced and doing all of the expected small talk with everyone, I made my way down the hill to the bar. At this point the boss was down there and I found a seat next to him. I've always liked Pete and I've had the impression he's liked me as well. We chatted...

Things are starting to cool off a bit. It seems like it's a month early, but that's the way the weather can be. When I awoke this morning in Southern KY it was downright chilly. It was also very, very foggy which made the first 100 miles or so of my day rather slow going. I've made contact with both delivery points and have set up times for delivery. Saturday morning in WI and Monday morning in Minneapolis. After delivering the WI stop I'll make my way to the yard so I can get my paperwork...

I'm in NE Georgia to pick up a press heading to Minneapolis. Being a piece of machinery designed to be indoors, it has to be tarped to prevent water damage during transport. The thing is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long by 11 feet tall. And it's pouring rain. I hit rain yesterday and it hasn't stopped yet. We can't load the thing in the rain as it would get rather wet which would not be a good thing. I am also not entirely interested in tarping something in the rain. Those big tarps are hard eno...

Since I started shaving with a regular double edge razor again and purchased that nice razor, I've redeveloped an interest in wet shaving. Wet shaving refers to using shaving creams or soaps that require a brush and water in order to use them, and normally a straight or double edge razor. I have an old, rather pathetic cheap-o boar hair shaving brush that is as close to useless as a shaving brush can get while still having bristles. Boar hair brushes are the lowest rung on the ladder as fa...

I spoke with my dispatcher this morning to find out what kind of load he had planned for me. He had set me up to pick up a truck in Daytona but the guy called him the first thing this morning to cancel as the truck had been wrecked over the weekend. So much for that plan. Hopefully he'll call this afternoon with something else. In the meantime I'm going about my usual dull routine here. While preparing my lunch I had the computer playing the XM radio 40s channel. I enjoy that old big band ...

During last night's thunderstorm I heard the crash of a lightning strike followed by the explosion of a power transformer very close to my house and then the lights went out. I was in the middle of washing dishes and had to just let them sit. I didn't bother to light candles or oil lamps as it would have just heated the place up more quickly. I just grabbed my LED flashlight and made due with that. After about an hour the power was still out so I decided to just call it an early evening an...